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Pathfinder Rangers
right|thumb|The Pathfinder Sigil One of Fastheld's best kept secrets, and one of the Empire's greatest coadjutors, the Pathfinders are a secretive group of Rangers dedicated to keeping Fastheld free from various threats that the Emperor's Blades have yet to encounter. Let alone clash with. Working neither within nor without the Imperial Law and the Imperial Council, the Pathfinder Rangers are believed to be usually comprised of no more than one hundred men and women at any one time, drawn from the finest marksmen and hunters that Fastheld has to offer. They have no central leadership or commander, but remain free to operate alone or within groups depending on the nature of their usually self assigned tasks; tasks that evolve from one Ranger discovering what they view as a threat to Fastheld, and gaining the support of other Rangers to investigate and, on occasion, remove that threat. The rangers of the Pathfinders are usually unsung in their deeds and victories, to such an extent of secrecy and stealth that many officials firmly disbelieve that such a group exists at all, and the average citizen knowing nothing about such a group at all. However, even those that do believe in the operatives of this shadowy union have a difficult time finding any historical proof of their existance. The only break that these historians were presented with was in 625 ATA when Prince Serath Kahar was rumoured to be a Pathfinder himself, although this fortune was soon snatched away when sets of Pathfinder Armor - believed to be exact replicas of the armor worn by the Pathfinders - began appearing across the realm, making it utterly impossible to discover who the genuine articles were, while permitting the real Rangers to walk in the open without fear of being identified. Such scholarly vexation was only compounded when the Emperor's Blades began production on Imperial Chain armor - based heavily, if not entirely, on the Pathfinder set. That the Emperor's Blades adopted a Ranger division to replace their Light Infantry and Archer divisions didn't help much, either. Thus, little still remains known about the secretive group, except that they operative on a similar level of secrecy as the Luminary, with speculation that the two groups may have worked together on more than one occasion when tasked with similar aims and goals. Their sigil - which is known by those who make it their job to research everything and anything about these Rangers - is believed to be that of a dark eagle clutching a golden sunwheel. The Sunwheel represents the Light, and is a similar device to that which the Church of True Light employ as their own insignia. It is thought that the sunwheel denotes the groups dedication to removing the darker threats from Fastheld - even beyond your common Wildlings and Mages. The Eagle itself is a question of subjectivity: There are those that believe the dark feathers of the Eagle represent a balance with the Shadow, while others claim they are symbolic of the hidden nature of the Pathfinders. The eagle itself may represent hunting, marksmanship, and a number of other references that no one can ever be sure of. Of historical note, however, is the assumption that Sirion Starkhorn was the very first Pathfinder Ranger. ---- Category:Chiaroscuro Organizations